Larissa Bonfante

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Giuliano Bonfante & Larissa Bonfante: The Etruscan Language. (2002)

Larissa Bonfante (born March  27, 1931 in Naples , Campania , †  August 23, 2019 in New York ) was an Italian classical archaeologist specializing in etruscology . Bonfante was a leading authority on matters relating to the Etruscan language and religion . In addition, she dealt intensively with clothing in ancient times . Larissa Bonfante was the daughter of the Etruscanologist Giuliano Bonfante (1904-2005).

life and work

Larissa Bonfante was born in Italy, but emigrated as a child in 1939 together with her parents before Italian fascism to the United States , as her father Giuliano Bonfante was a declared anti-fascist and felt compelled to leave the country.

Bonfante studied at Radcliffe College in Cambridge , then at Barnard College in New York Classical Studies (Classics) and graduated in 1954 with a Bachelor from (BA). At the University of Cincinnati she received her Masters (MA) in 1957 . She completed her postgraduate studies in 1966 at Columbia University with a doctorate (Ph.D.). She taught at New York University from 1963 to 1970 as an assistant professor , until 1975 as an associate professor and until 2006 as a full professor . In 1983 she received the Alumni Federation's Great Teacher Award for teaching. After retiring from academia, she was a professor emeritus for classical studies.

Bonfante gained his first experience in archeology while working in the field near Cerveteri with the renowned Etruscanologist Massimo Pallottino (1909–1995). She was also acquainted with Otto J. Brendel (1901-1973), a German-American classical archaeologist, with whom she had received her doctorate from Columbia University. She was close friends with Margarete Bieber (1879–1978), a German-American classical archaeologist and university lecturer who, as a Jew, had to emigrate from Germany to the USA. Bonfante wrote an obituary and two extensive biographical essays for them.

Larissa Bonfante: The Plays of Hrotswitha of Gandersheim. (Bilingual Edition 2013)

Bonfante's first main publication Etruscan Dress (1975), derived from her dissertation for Columbia University, was the basis for further studies of clothing in ancient cultures such as Nudity as a costume in classical art (1989) and The World of Roman Costume (1994). Due to its special importance, Etruscan Dress was reissued in 2003 in an updated edition.

In 1983, together with her father Giuliano Bonfante, she published The Etruscan Language: An Introduction , a fundamental work on the Etruscan language, which was published in an Italian and a Romanian translation. In the 1980s and 1990s she researched the status and representation of women in Etruscan art in numerous publications, especially mother figures in votive art .

Bonfante worked intensively on Etruscan bronze mirrors and was a member of the international committee for the Corpus Speculorum Etruscorum , an international research project that has been running since 1973 with the aim of publishing all preserved Etruscan bronze mirrors. In 1997 she published a volume devoted to the Etruscan mirrors in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York .

Bonfante worked as an editor , member of the editorial board and on the board of the American Journal of Archeology , founded the Institute for Italic and Etruscan Studies, the US section of the Italian Istituto Nazionale di Studi Etruschi ed Italici, and established the section journal Etruscan News . She regularly organized specialist conferences on ancient topics, including Etruscan Myth: Images and Translations in 2009 and The Barbarians of Ancient Europe: Realities and Interactions in 2011 . She was also Vice President of the New York Society of the Archeological Society of America and a member of the German Archaeological Institute .

Her work has been honored with numerous awards, including 2007, the Gold Medal of the Archaeological Institute of America . In 2009 she was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society . In 2007/2008 Bonfante was a speaker at the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures , a series of lectures that Harvard University has held annually since 1907 and to which important personalities are invited as lecturers.

Larissa Bonfante married Peter Warren in 1950 and took on the double name Bonfante Warren during their marriage. In 1952 their daughter Alexandra Bonfante-Warren was born. In 1962 the couple divorced. Together with her daughter she manuscripts of Hroswitha of Gandersheim from the Latin translated and edited.

Publications (selection)

  • with Rolf Winkes: Bibliography of the works of Margarete Bieber for her 90th birthday, July 31, 1969 . Columbia University, New York 1969.
  • Roman Triumphs and Etruscan Kings: The Changing Face of the Triumph. In: The Journal of Roman Studies . Volume 60, Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies , London 1970, pp. 49-66.
  • Etruscan dress. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1975, 2003 reissue, ISBN 9780801874130 .
  • as ed. with Helga von Heintze : In memoriam Otto J. Brendel: Essays in archeology and the humanities. Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1976, ISBN 9783805301541 .
  • The Plays of Hrotswitha of Gandersheim. Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, Wauconda 1979, ISBN 9780865161788 .
  • Out of Etruria. Etruscan influence north and south . In: British Archaeological Reports. Volume 1, Oxford 1981, ISBN 9780860541219 .
  • with Giuliano Bonfante : The Etruscan Language: An Introduction. Manchester University Press, Manchester 1983, new edition 2002, ISBN 9780719055409 .
  • Etruscan Life and Afterlife: A Handbook of Etruscan Studies. Wayne State University Press, Detroit 1986, ISBN 9780814318133 .
  • with Eva Jaunzems: Clothing and Ornament. In: Civilization of the Ancient Mediterranean: Greece and Rome. Volume 2, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York 1988, pp. 1385-1436.
  • Nudity as a costume in classical art. In: American Journal of Archeology . Volume 93, 1989, pp. 543-570.
  • Reading The Past: Etruscan . University of California Press, Berkeley 1990, ISBN 0520071182 .
  • Gens Antiquissima Italiae: Antichità dall'Umbria a New York. Electa / Editori Umbri Associati, Perugia / Milan 1991, ISBN 8843535250 .
  • Fufluns Pacha: The Etruscan Dionysus. In: Thomas H. Carpenter, Christopher A. Faraone (eds.): Masks of Dionysos. Cornell University Press, Ithaca / London 1993, pp. 221-235.
  • with John Chadwick among others: La naissance des écritures: Du cunéiforme à l'alphabet. Seuil, Paris 1997, ISBN 2020334534 .
  • Corpus Speculorum Etruscorum : USA. Volume 3: New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. L'Erma di Bretschneider, Rome 1997, ISBN 887062997X .
  • Nursing Mothers in Classical Art. In: Ann Olga Koloski-Ostrow: Naked Truths: Women, Sexuality, and Gender in Classical Art and Archeology. Routledge, London 1997, ISBN 9780415159951 , pp. 174-195.
  • with Judith Swaddling: Etruscan myths. University of Texas Press, Austin 2006, ISBN 9780292706064 .
  • with Blair Fowlkes: Classical antiquities at New York University. L'Erma di Bretschneider, Rome 2006, ISBN 9788882653668 .
  • with Judith Lynn Sebesta: The World of Roman Costume. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison 1994, 2006 reissue, ISBN 9780299138547 .
  • as editor: The Barbarians of Ancient Europe: Realities and Interactions. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2011, 2014 revision, ISBN 9781107692404 .
  • Mothers and Children. In: Jean MacIntosh Turfa: The Etruscan World. Routledge, New York 2013, ISBN 9781134055234 , pp. 426-446.
  • The Plays of Hrotswitha of Gandersheim (Bilingual Edition). Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, Wauconda 2013, ISBN 9780865167834 .
  • The Collection of Antiquities of the American Academy in Rome. University of Michigan Press, Michigan 2015, ISBN 9780472119899 .
  • Etruscan mirrors and the grave. In: Marie-Laurence Haack (ed.): L'écriture et l'espace de la mort. Epigraphie et nécropoles à l'époque préromaine. Publications de l'École française, Rome 2015, ISBN 9782728310968 .
  • with Helen Nagy: The Collection of Antiquities of the American Academy in Rome. University of Michigan Press, Michigan 2016, ISBN 9780472119899 .

literature

  • Hans Peter Obermayer: German Classical Scientists in American Exile: A Reconstruction. Verlag Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2014, ISBN 9783110305197 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Larissa Bonfante - Joseph A. Lucchese Funeral Home. August 29, 2019, accessed August 30, 2019 .
  2. ^ A b Hans Peter Obermayer: German archaeologists in American exile: A reconstruction , p. 35.
  3. ↑ https://archive.org/stream/annualreportforf1980inst#page/28/mode/2up (March 20, 2017)
  4. ↑ a b c d e f https://www.archaeological.org/larissabonfante%e2%80%942007goldmedalawarddistinguishedarchaeologicalachievement (March 20, 2017)
  5. ↑ a b http://classics.as.nyu.edu/object/class.emeriti.html (March 20, 2017)
  6. ↑ Member History: Larissa Bonfante. American Philosophical Society, accessed May 12, 2018 (English, with short biography).
  7. ↑ https://www.archaeological.org/lecturer/larissabonfante (March 20, 2017)
  8. ↑ https://prabook.com/web/peter_beach.warren/196756 (August 30, 2019)
personal data
SURNAME Bonfante, Larissa
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bonfante Warren, Larissa
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian classical archaeologist
DATE OF BIRTH March 27, 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH Naples , Campania
DATE OF DEATH 23 August 2019
Place of death new York